Case Studies

Sustainable ranching and restoring forests in agricultural landscapes, Panama

Background

Conventional cattle ranching in Panama has led to significant ecological issues, including loss of biodiversity, soil degradation, decreased ecosystem services, and more. This article highlights the experiences of Asociación de Productores Pecuarios y Agro-silvopastoriles de Pedasí (APASPE), a local cattle ranching association pioneering sustainable cattle ranching techniques, along with the capacity building and financial support provided by the Environmental Leadership and Training Initiatives (ELTI) based at Yale University. 

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Socioecological transition in the Cauca river valley, Colombia (1943–2010): towards an energy–landscape integrated analysis

Background 

Globally, agroecosytems are facing signficant challenges due to socio-ecological trends in which they are pressured to intensify in order to meat growing economic demands while also attempting to avoid the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services typically associated with agricultural intensification. This study uses the Cauca river valley in Colombia as a case-study in order to investigate the land use change and the ways human disturbance in agroecosystems are associated with landscape processes. 

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Restoring tropical forests from the bottom up

Background

Written in 2017, this article acknowledges that numerous countries around the world have committed to restoring large areas of forest in the next decade or so. Given these challenging targets, the authors seeks to understand how they can be met given competing land uses. She draws on several case studies to answer this broad question, including ones from Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. 

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The Potential for Species Conservation in Tropical Secondary Forests

Background

The importance of tropical secondary forests for conserving biodiversity increases with the degradation of old-growth forests, yet little is known about the role that these forests play in promoting biodiversity. Geospatial and temporal factors influence the role of secondary forests in species conservation, and this synthesis of case studies evaluates the significance of these factors on regional and landscape scales.

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Les initiatives de restauration des paysages forestiers du WWF (WWF's Forest Landscape Restoration Initiatives)

The pamphlet provides an overview of WWF's forest landscape restoration (FLR) projects worldwide.

 

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Financial Governance and Indonesia’s Reforestation Fund during the Soeharto and Post-Soeharto Periods, 1989–2009: A Political Economic Analysis of Lessons for REDD+

Background

In this occassional paper, CIFOR notes how Indonesia is in an unique position to utilize the REDD+ initiative to increase revenue and reduce loss of forest cover, overall contributing to the reduction in global carbon emmssions. In order to offer lessons for the future, this paper examines the financial management and government practices of the country's Reforestation Fund over the past two decades.

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Stakeholders and Tropical Reforestation: Challenges, Trade-Offs, and Strategies in Dynamic Environments

Background

The authors recognize that reforestation efforts require trade-offs, yet they claim that successful efforts requires stakeholder engagement beyond the planning stages and the acknowledgement that stakeholder dynamics, interests, and roles change over time. To support this claim, the authors first do a relevant literature review and then the examine a single case study of a multi-stakeholder workshop in Mexico. 

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Plan d'amenagement et de gestion de la foret galerie de Makera: 2009-2013 (Management plan for the Makera gallery forest: 2009-2013)

This report provides a biologic, economic, and sociologic context for the state of the Makera gallery forest in Rwanda.The authors provide plans for management, ongoing research, and community engagement with the forest.

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Ecological Study of Kirisia Forest Reserve

Background

In order to inform a 2009 Conservation Enterprise Development Program, a preliminary ecological survey was carried out at the Kirisia Forest Reserve in Samburu District, Kenya. The survey was in response to an aerial survey conducted by the Wilderness Foundation UK that examined potential drivers of forest destruction.

Open access copy available

What does it take? The role of incentives in forest plantation development in Asia and the Pacific

Background

The Asia-Pacific region has a significant amount of diverse forest cover. While many countries have experience deforestation, the remaining forests are still valued for their ecosystem services and timber products. To protect these two benefits, severa government have promoted forest plantations as a forest management strategy. This reports  assess the impact of incentives on forest plantation development.

Open access copy available
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